Dozens of protesters were arrested Friday after causing a three-mile traffic jam by blocking a Wisconsin freeway over the fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer earlier this year, police said. Officials said 74 people were arrested after protesters stopped traffic on the I-43 in downtown Milwaukee at about 5:15 p.m.
The demonstration follows the death of Dontre Hamilton, 31, who was shot 14 times by a police officer during a confrontation at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee on April 30, according to NBC station WTMJ. District Attorney John Chisholm this week said the decision on whether to charge Officer Christopher Manney, who was fired from the Milwaukee Police Department, would come by the end of the year. Manney fatally shot Hamilton after responding to a call by workers at a nearby Starbucks complaining of Hamilton sleeping in the park, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Hamilton’s family said he had a history of mental illness, according to WTMJ.
